Olivia rolls her eyes.“With her?Hardly.She’s hated me from the first.I demand to be given the opportunity to punish her for her transgression, Marcus.”
There’s something hungry in Olivia’s expression as she looks me over.
“Give her to me for one of my parties and we’ll say no more,” Olivia says.
Marcus shakes his head angrily.“Lyra is mine, Olivia,” he snaps.“Mine to keep, and mine to punish if necessary.It doesn’t fall to you.”
“Then punish her,” Olivia demands.
“I will,” Marcus assures her.“As soon as I get her back to my villa.”
Olivia shakes her head.“Not good enough.We both know you’ll be too soft on her.Here and now.”
Marcus is looking angrier by the moment.He also looks a little frightened as he looks my way.He warned me things might turn out like this.
“You say that as if you get to command me, Olivia,” Marcus says.
Olivia isn’t backing down, though.“You took on responsibility for her.That means you’re the one who has to rein her in when she goes too far.Do it.Show us that you can keep Lyra in her place.Or do I need to talk to Selene about whether she’d be better placed with me?”
Marcus is trapped now, caught between his need to maintain the façade of being on Selene’s side and his desire not to hurt me.I catch his eye and mouth two words.
Do it.
Marcus lifts his hands and lightning dances out from them, making me cry out in agony as I fall to the floor.The pain is excruciating, my body twitching and dancing under the weight of his magic.I groan as he stops, and Olivia is looking down at me with something like satisfaction.
“Mmm, perhaps Marcus can control you properly after all.Very well, Marcus, take her out of here.And see she doesn’t interfere in my business again.”
CHAPTER ELEVEN
“I’m so sorry,” Marcus says as he takes me back to his villa.
I have to lean on his arm, because his magic has left me shaking and drained, feeling as though I might stumble at any moment.
Marcus looks as though he wants to look after me and comfort me, but there’s only so much he can do with people watching.I do my best to look resentful, even as I take all the support he offers me.
“You only did what I told you to do,” I point out.
“But that doesn’t make it right,” Marcus replies.“And Ihatethat we were put in that position.By Olivia, of all people.And for what?Because she wanted to be the one with control over you?”
"I think it's about more than that," I guess."She knows Selene is her best route to having any power in the new Aetheria.She wants to be as close to her as possible, but here you are, being one of Selene's right-hand men."
"You think this is about jealousy?"Marcus asks, sounding as though he has a hard time believing it.But with Olivia, it should be easy to believe.Jealousy is one of the things she does best.
“Olivia might have started off being controlled by Selene’s mind magic,” I say, “but now, it feels as though she’s one of her most loyal supporters.She’ll want to know that Selene won’t forget her in favor of you, and everything Selene does for you is a hint that Olivia might be falling in her estimation.”
Marcus nods, looking thoughtful.“I wonder if it might be possible to drive a wedge between them.”
“We’d have to be very careful,” I point out.“If it becomes too obvious, Selene will realize you’re trying to work against her.”
That’s the risk with everything we do.We need to be careful as we build up to resist Selene’s coup.If we let her know what we’re doing, we might have to fight her before we’re fully prepared.Doing so risks all our lives.
We return to Marcus’ villa, and as soon as we’re inside, he helps me to a couch.He rushes to get me watered wine, serving it to me while looking on with worry.
“Are you all right?”he asks me.“I tried to hold back, but I needed to make it look realistic.”
“I’ll be fine,” I say.“And you can’t hover over me like this.Your servants think I’m your reluctant prisoner, remember?”
“They also know how I feel about you,” Marcus replies.“They know this whole situation is complicated.I’m only keeping them in the dark to protect them, not because I doubt their loyalty.”
